Canal Ancestors

A quick update to say my latest feature on tracing your canal ancestors is out in this month’s issue of Discover My Past England, so do check it out if you have boatmen or canal company workers in your family tree.
Image: Canal boat family, 1920s. Fellows, Morton & Clayton were a famous canal carrying firm. Work and Workers, Arthur O. Cooke, (T.C. and E.C. Jack Ltd., c.1920s.)

Georgian Chester

A reminder that there are only a few days remaining if you would like to visit the Grosvenor Museum’s ‘Georgian Chester: the City in Art’ exhibition which closes on 12 September. Also, next weekend there’s a great opportunity for Cheshire history fans to explore some of the county’s hidden treasures. Free access to buildings of special historic interest and special guided tours are available as part of the Heritage Open Days festival.

Images: Park House, built in 1715, just one of the many spectacular buildings which sprang up in Georgian Chester. Park House was formerly the Albion Hotel. The Duke of Wellington stayed here when he visited the city in 1820. The Hotel had an assembly room. It was also the HQ of the Independent party, deadly foes of the Grosvenor family interest in the bloodthirsty political rivalries which split the city in Regency Cheshire. © Sue Wilkes.

An illustration from Regency Cheshire: Thomas Harrison’s Chester Castle works. The Propylea Gate is on the very far left. The county gaol, jury rooms and prothonotary’s office are in the building on the left. The Shire Hall with its massy Doric columns is to the right. The east wing (left) of the Hall was the military barracks; the west wing was the armoury. Stranger’s Companion in Chester, 4th edition, c. 1828.